Artemis astronauts hours away from high-stakes re-entryThis handout picture released on April 7, 2026, by NASA shows Earth as it dips beyond the lunar horizon, also known as "Earthset," as seen from the Orion spacecraft on April 6, 2026. (Photo: AFP)HOUSTON - The Artemis II astronauts were preparing Friday for a high-stakes re-entry and splashdown, the final and perhaps most risky step of their historic 10-day journey around the Moon. The heat shield is meant to slowly erode -- "ablate," as NASA puts it -- to protect the capsule, a process that during Artemis I was disrupted. "We have high confidence in the system and the heat shield and the parachutes and the recovery systems we put together," Kshatriya said. The second phase of the Artemis program was a test mission to verify the reliability of the Orion capsule, which before now had not carried humans.

Source: Bangkok Post April 10, 2026 22:07 UTC